How we helped a St Kilda couple upgrade before they sell

In real estate, first impressions matter. A freshly painted, newly upgraded home can catch the attention of buyers and help your clients sell for the best price possible.

But making these small improvements prior to sale does come at a cost, not to mention the time they can take to complete. That’s where bridging finance comes in. 

With bridging finance, your clients can access funds for value-adding, non-structural improvements. Across the 12-month loan term, clients have six months to make improvements and a further six months to sell the home. Best of all, they won’t need to make any repayments during this period—giving them the freedom to focus on maximising the property’s value without added financial pressure.

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Bridging can also allow you to both buy now, sell later, along with unlocking the funds to make cosmetic improvements and staging your home to get the best sale outcome, allowing you to benefit in more than one way.

We recently supported clients in St Kilda who needed to refinance their existing mortgage and business loans (secured against their principal place of residence) while also unlocking funds to conduct value-adding cosmetic improvements before selling. 

Let’s take a closer look at the loan scenario:

• Property location: St Kilda, Victoria 
• LVR: 35.98%
• Loan amount: $2,784,000
• Loan purpose: Refinance and Cosmetic improvements
• Loan term: 12 months

Our team workshopped this scenario with their broker, structuring the loan in a way that aligned with the client’s financial goals and market conditions. We released funds for the applicants to complete a range of value-adding upgrades, including premium removalist services for artwork collection transport, full property staging, and enhanced landscaping designed to reflect a heritage-style appearance - alongside monthly maintenance.

With the valuable extra time that a 12-month loan term affords, the clients completed the works on their own timeline. As well as funding improvements, this solution enabled the applicants to refinance both their residential mortgage and business loan debt - removing ongoing repayments and giving them the freedom to sell when the timing is right. The goal? To be completely debt-free following the property sale.

Nik Thurgood, Bridgit BDM highlights the benefits of using bridging to maximise a sale: “Using bridging to fund cosmetic improvements is a smart way to boost a home’s value and potentially achieve a higher sale price. With our 12-month loan term, customers have the flexibility to upgrade, prepare, list, and sell—without the pressure—so they can maximise their return.”

Find out more about how bridging can be used to fund cosmetic improvements here.

Ready to help your client boost their home’s value before selling? Discover how a Bridgit bridging loan could help. Schedule a call today and workshop a scenario with one of our specialists.